the Dream potion
by Blues
Summary: Snape forces Harry to take a potion in fron of both slytherins and gryffindors - and it turns out to be a bit embarrassing


AUTHORS NOTES:   
  


This is just a little thing I though about... and it is finished and I will go back to the two other fics I am working on and finish them... my beta-reader is working on it too... and if this is badly written it's because I didn't let her have a look at it before I posted it ^_^ 

Hope you like it.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The dream potion 

(Where does she find those original titles you may ask...)   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"This is the last of the sleeping related potions we will be making before we proceed to healing potions, this one will make a person fall asleep instantly, and the dreams will appear in foggy shadows..."   
  


Harry yawned. Ron nudged him and Harry looked up at Snape as he stood over him with an evil smile.   
  


"Tired are we Potter?" He said loud enough for the whole class to hear. The Slytherins snickered, looking at the potion master waiting for him to continue.   
  


"Sorry Professor, " Harry said, staring into his cauldron where his potion was bobbling. Harry let out his breath as Snape left him alone to criticise Neville's potion.   
  


"You don't look too good." Ron whispered, letting his crocodile tales fall into the boiling potion while Snape went on.   
  


"I'm just tired." Harry whispered back, cutting his own crocodile tales in halves.   
  


Harry was tired. Ever since last summer when the Dark Lord rose Harry hadn't had a single night without horrible nightmares. Reliving Cedric's death, the torture and the rising of Voldemort every night didn't exactly do wonders for Harry. He had dark rims under his eyes, and he was exhausted at 5 p.m. He could barely keep himself awake when he was supposed to do him homework.   
  


Harry straightened up to keep himself awake. Two weeks ago Ron didn't manage to keep Harry awake during potions, and Snape had caught him. It had been very embarrassing and cost Gryffindor 25 points.   
  


Harry stirred his potions and read through the instructions once more. He had to make this one right. Snape had told them that he would make tests once a month through out the whole year, and if you fell through more than three you had to be extremely good at the finals if you wanted to come through. Harry didn't want to fail the second one too, it had been bad enough last month.   
  


Finally the potion was finished, and Snape passed by every table to have a closer look. Even Neville seemed to have managed to make it right, with a little help from Hermione.   
  


Snape praised the slytherins and went to Harry and Ron.   
  


"Well, you all seem to come through this time." Snape said slyly... almost disappointed. "Even Longbottem and Potter..." He suddenly turned to Harry and slowly started walking towards him.   
  


"Last time it didn't went that well, did it Potter?" He asked, smiling evilly.   
  


"No Sir." Harry murmured and watched his teacher in alarm.   
  


"Sure it looks alright, but I think we'd better make sure it is... I want you to test it!" He said, crossing his arms.   
  


Harry's heart skipped a beat and he shook his head. The potion they were making was a special sleeping potion that put people to sleep and made ghostly shadows of the dreams visible for other people... he had caught that much of Snape's lecture.   
  


"I'd rather not." Harry whispered, looking at his feet. The last thing he needed was the slytherins to know that even though he held his head high, he was about to crumble and break down every night when he woke up screaming.   
  


"What did you say, Potter?" Snape hissed.   
  


"I said I don't want to!" Harry said raising his voice, now looking up at his teacher.   
  


"That's not your decision, I am the teacher and I decide wether or not you are supposed to test your work." The slytherins cackled in the background and Harry felt his cheeks burn.   
  


"I order you to test it!" Snape growled.   
  


Harry looked at his cauldron, he'd rather fail this test and keep his pride. In one swept motion he picked up all the leftovers at the table and threw them in the cauldron. A hiss and the potion turned from green to brown and boiled madly so the liquid spilled on the floor.   
  


Harry looked up at Snape coldly and half expected him to draw 50 points, but the professor merely smiled down at him evilly.   
  


"Well Potter, I guess I'll have to fail you and draw points from Gryffindor because of your behaviour, but I can't help but wonder why you don't want to test it. It looked perfectly fine to me, and you look like you could need a little sleep. I am willing to draw back the punishment if you agree to test one of the other students' potion."   
  


"No!" Harry said flatly.   
  


"Think about it Potter, if your house wants to keep their head start it would be a catastrophe if I drew all 76 points."   
  


Both gryffindors and slytherins held their breath as they watched.   
  


"I don't want to." Harry repeated stubbornly but backed away a bit as Snape advanced.   
  


"As I told you before, that's not you choice." Snape grabbed a cylinder from the table, dived it into Ron's potion and walked towards Harry who backed away towards the back of the class.   
  


The class started shouting. The slytherins cheering the gryffindors complaining.   
  


Harry suddenly felt the panic rising from the pit of his stomach as his back came in contact with the back wall - he was cornered and Snape towered in front of him with the glass in his hand.   
  


"Drink it!" He simply ordered.   
  


Harry knew he couldn't do anything. Snape wasn't going to let him off after he retorted at him in front of the whole class.   
  


"I said drink it!" Snape whispered dangerously. The class could only see the back of their potion master and couldn't hear the conversation since everyone was arguing quite loud. 

Harry looked up at his teacher in defeat and heard the words slip from him own mouth.   
  


"Please Professor."   
  


Snape looked as surprised to hear this as Harry was that he said it. "Pardon me?" He whispered his evil smile back.   
  


"Please, don't make me do this in front of the whole class."   
  


Harry knew his plea fell for death ears, he could see in Snape's eyes that he was going down this time, and he would be listening to the slytherins for the rest of the year about this episode. But he looked up at his teacher once more, one last try, maybe if he swallowed his pride and gave Snape this satisfaction he would let him off.   
  


"Please Professor, I beg you!"   
  


Snape's insane look turned into astonishment for a second but then right back into evilness. He had Potter right where he wanted him, where he had wanted him since the first day he set foot at Hogwarts, he could get Harry to do anything at this point that was evident.   
  


"What can be so dangerous about those dreams of yours that you sink to this level?" He whispered. The angry shouts from the class grew stronger but Harry and Snape blocked them out.   
  


"Please sir," Harry looked down. "Just don't make me go through with this." Harry visibly winced and shrunk as his teacher grabbed his chin and forced the inferior boy to look up at him.   
  


"What are you hiding?"   
  


"Sir..." Harry tried but Snape interrupted him.   
  


"I will see you crawl at my feet before I let you out of this one Potter." He whispered dangerously. And turned to the class which fell a bit more silent.   
  


"Potter doesn't want to take the potion." The class broke out in shouts again.   
  


Harry realised that no matter what happened at this point he had lost, he tried to dive out of the way now that Snape's attention was brought to the class. But the ex-Death Eater was faster than a cobra. As Harry tried to dodge out of the way Snape's arm shot out and grabbed Harry's hair yanking the boy back against his chest and faster than lightning he grabbed Harry's yaw hard opening his mouth and forced the potion down his throat. The class exploded in unbearable noise.   
  


Harry grabbed Snapes arm and tried to pry it from his face but in less than three seconds he felt the class and the noises grow distant as he quickly lost consciousness and fell back against his strong teacher, who caught the fainting boy before he fell to the floor.   
  


The slytherins laughed hysterically and the gryffindors looked at each other in horror as Snape pulled the unconscious boy into his arms and carried him like a child up between the tables a triumphant smile on his face.   
  


Malfoy laughed particularly loud and shouted at Ron through the roar of the class, but luckily Ron didn't hear him, he just looked at Harry, otherwise Malfoy would have been struck dead with Ron's cauldron. Some of the gryffindors seemed ready to leave in protest but didn't dare.   
  


Snape laid the suddenly fragile-looking boy on his desk and summoned a blanket with a wave of his wand. He tucked Harry in on the hard table to Slytherins' amusement and silence slowly fell over the class.   
  


"Now let's see if Mr. Weasley's potion is any good." Snape said. Harry started mumbling and stirred as the dark dreams flooded his mind mercilessly. The whole class held their breath, both slytherins and angry gryffindors were anxious to see why Harry was so desperate to avoid the potion.   
  


30 seconds later they had their answer.   
  


Harry whimpered helplessly as the room turned oddly misty and foggy, shadows appeared above the table where he trashed slightly. He whispered Cedric's name and the class looked at the sight before them in astonishment. No one said a word.   
  


"Did anyone tell you the cup was a port-kea?" The Cedric-shadow echoed.   
  


"No!" Harry's shadowy figure answered.   
  


Suddenly more shadows joined them. The hooded figure that was Wormtail grew bigger with a bundle in his arms.   
  


"Kill the spare!"   
  


Harry cried out on the table and curled into a ball as the class screamed in terror. Cedric's shadow fell to the ground and Harry moaned miserably. The whole memory went extremely fast. The shadowy figure of Harry was forced against the headstone, bound and deprived his blood - and Voldemort rose in less than two minutes.   
  


No one moved a muscle, even the slytherins kept quiet as the Death Eaters' shadows formed a circle around Harry and Voldemort in 40 seconds, the Harry-shadow was released. Harry who was still in a crumbled position on the table trashed wildly as the Voldemort-figure threw the crusiatus curse at the shadow that was Harry. Both the shadow and the real Harry screamed in pain.   
  


The whole class shrieked with him but suddenly the fog vanished with a snap. Snape had taken the bucked of cold water he always had ready when Neville was in the dungeons in case he set fire on something, and he had thrown the water over Harry who jerked awake and fell of the table to the floor.   
  


It gave a loud crack, and Harry moaned with pain, he had landed on his arm wich now looked very odd and stuck out in an unnatural angle. Harry closed his eyes in shame and just stayed at the floor panting at Snape's feet. He waited for the slytherins to break out laughing, he knew what they had just witnessed.   
  


But before that happened Snape roared: "If it ever comes to my attention that ANYONE harass Mr. Potter because of what you just saw, I shall personally remove every single point from his house and make sure he is expelled from Hogwarts... is this perfectly clear?" He stared directly at Draco with eyes that could kill.   
  


No one dared to answer, but they got the message.   
  


"And a correction. Next week we wont start on healing potions like it says on your semester plan - we will concentrate on doing the peelsllew-potion that gives you a dreamless sleep... Dismissed!"   
  


Everybody cleaned up and flew out the door in less than a minute. Ron and Hermione stepped closer to Snape's desk, but Snape waved them away while he drew his wand and healed Harry's broken arm.   
  


The door closed and Harry sniffed in humiliation, tears mingled with water and sweat as he tried to get up without looking at Snape.   
  


The latter helped him to sit against the wall. Harry just wanted to leave but Snape grabbed his shoulder.   
  


"... Harry, I'm sorry..."   
  


Harry looked up in disbelief and found his teacher looking at him very seriously.   
  


"I am so sorry I didn't respect your wish - that was low." Snape said silently and mumbled a few words while waving his wand so Harry's clothes dried.   
  


"I didn't know it was that bad... I shouldn't have done this."   
  


Harry didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do with Snape's apology.   
  


"It's ok." He lied, trying to get up. But Snape wouldn't let go.   
  


"No, it's not ok, I had no right to do that to you, and I am really sorry. You should go directly to Dumbledore and complain about me!"   
  


There was a pause and Harry once again moved to leave.   
  


"You have them every night don't you?" Snape asked before Harry got on his feet.   
  


Harry didn't answer, but that confirmed Snape's suspicion.   
  


"Harry, why haven't you asked me to make you a sleeping draft?"   
  


"Make a guess?" Harry mumbled angrily.   
  


"Why didn't you ask Madam Pomfrey?"   
  


"My dreams are my headache!"   
  


"Don't you see it's eating you up from inside!"   
  


"WHAT DO YOU CARE?" Harry yelled at Snape.   
  


"More than you think."   
  


"Well pulling a stunt like the one you just did doesn't exactly make it feel natural to come to you!"   
  


Snape fell silent for a moment. Then Harry turned to leave.   
  


"I have nightmares too..." It came from behind Harry who stopped.   
  


"No worse than yours I guess, but I know what it feels like to be afraid to go to sleep, and it was stupid of me that I didn't realise that was the reason you refused to take the potion."   
  


Harry listened, he didn't know what to say, Snape was acting very odd and it scared him a bit.   
  


"I don't expect you to either forget or forgive what I just put you through, I just want you to accept my apology."   
  


"Accepted." Harry said flatly and fled the room.   
  


He wandered along the corridors not knowing if he should tell Dumbledore, or write Sirius, or just forget the whole thing. He didn't really want more people to know that he couldn't even deal with his dreams. That information had been shared with more than enough people by now.   
  


He missed both herbology and transfiguration and when he looked at his watch he realised that it was dinner time. He didn't feel like going to the great hall, but his stomach told him he ought to.   
  


When he entered he could feel people's eyes on him and hear the whispers. But no one at the slytherin table said a word, and as Harry looked up at gazed towards Draco he could see that he was sitting staring at him, longing to shout something - no doubt - but he didn't dare.   
  


Harry joined Ron and Hermione, who didn't dare ask him, they just looked very worried.   
  


"Stop looking at me." Harry barked, and they quickly dropped their gaze. They ate in silence. And as they left the great hall no one said a word to Harry. Harry smiled inside at the fact that the slytherins would cause their own downfall if they ever confronted him with the insident, though they seemed SO eager to taunt him. Draco looked sick with eager to shout something nasty.   
  


Harry went straight to his dorm with Ron and Hermione right behind him.   
  


"Harry?" Hermione said.   
  


"Come on, you two, stop it. You both knew I had nightmares, nothing is changed. I don't want you to treat me like a rotten apple - I hate pity. Just do as if it never happened. It's bad enough everybody else act differently."   
  


"Sorry." Ron said and offered Harry a small smile.   
  


"What did Snape say?" Hermione asked silently. "You ought to make a complain to Dumbledore. What he did was totally unacceptable."   
  


"That's just what he said!" Harry answered. "He apologised, and said I should tell Dumbledore."   
  


"What?" Ron said in disbelief.   
  


"Yeah," Harry smiled a bit thinking about what actually happened. "He said he was sorry, and that he had nightmares too."   
  


"He actually said that?" Hemione gasped.   
  


"Nobody ever lived to tell that tale!" Ron laughed. "He actually gave you an apology!"   
  


"Yeah... maybe he is human after all!" Harry said and yawned.   
  


"Do you want to go to bed?" Hermione asked and walked slowly backwards towards the door.   
  


"Don't know, just want to sit and think for a bit, okay?" Harry answered, he didn't feel like going to sleep to have more nightmares...   
  


Ron and Hermione left and Harry went to his bed and sat down. His eyes caught a bottle on the table and a card. He grabbed it and read.   
  
  
  


Once again I want to say I'm sorry.   
  


And even though you probably loath me even more now than you ever did before, I hope you will accept this little present. It should last until next week. Then, if you pay attention in my class, you will be able to brew your own.   
  


Severus Snape.   
  
  
  


Harry looked at the bottle, the label read peelsllew-potion. And Harry smiled. Maybe after all this episode would turn out to make things better. He undressed and went to bed, took a sip from the bottle and fell asleep instantly. For the first time in 3 month he slept peacefully without any haunting dreams. And when Ron came up a couple of hours later he found his friend in bed fast asleep and with a soft smile on his lips.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


the end   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


well that's all, gotta go back to work on my other fics.   
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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